March 10, 2011 4:41 p.m.

The other day we received back Chips’ first test for Calvert Sixth Grade.  I was very curious how it would turn out because I had taken a more “hands-off” approach this time.  In particular, I had made Chips take more responsibility for knowledge of course content in science, history, reading, and geography.  In the past, I would get very involved in the  preparation for these subjects, making sure I reviewed all the details with him.   But this time, I left it up to him, having required him to take good notes on all his reading along the way.  (I guess I am getting tired…)  Anyway, for science, history, and geography, I have been requiring him to outline all his reading in his spiral-bound notebooks.  He hasn’t always been happy about having to do this (imagine that!) but I stood my ground and kept reminding him that doing these outlines would make test day a slam dunk.

So, as I said, he got his first test set back, and guess what?  He got all “1s” (Calvert’s equivalent of “A”).  I was very proud of him, especially as he was more on his own than he ever had been before.  He really took responsibility for his learning in sixth grade. 

I’ve mentioned in the past how the A.T.S. teachers we have had all through the years have been pretty picky.  They have always held up a very high standard in grading our children’s work.  I have been surprised, wondering how much of the rigor was just talk and how much was reality.  Well, I’m here to tell ya, it is all reality!  I guess the last time Chips had a lenient A.T.S. teacher, it was his very first one – for 2nd grade.  He actually made the honor roll that year.  Never since!  Sweet Girl has never had a lenient A.T.S. teacher. 

When I saw Chips’ test come back, I studied all the markings and comments of this teacher and I am not sure this time.  Maybe this teacher will be a little bit easier?  We shall see.  Time will tell.

revised

… to my new reader from Pensacola, please stop by and leave a comment, and introduce yourself.  Curious how you found my blog.  Thank you!

(p.s. I don't mean to single anybody out, but I had a situation with a lurker from the same city some time back so I really appreciate your prompt reply.  Thank you)

March 6, 2011 6:34 p.m.

Chips is $90 richer today than he was yesterday.  Not bad for under ten minutes’ work.  He took second place for Intermediate Concerto and second place for Intermediate Solo.  He said he would have been happier with blue ribbons, but he played his music really well, and the competition was fierce.  We are very pleased, considering all he has been through in the past two weeks.

Here is my family waiting … and waiting … and waiting for Chips’ turn to go perform.



And here are the red ribbons to prove it. 



Afterwards, we went to Mac*roni Grill to celebrate.  A good day for our family. 

Another competition to come in two weeks.

Now I need to rest and get rid of my headache.  Will I ever get used to these competitions?

March 5, 2011 10:14 p.m.

It’s the Year of the Orange!

After our colder than normal winter, we have got the best tasting, juiciest, sweetest oranges we have ever had on our tree. 

Time to squeeze some serious juice!  Mmmmmm….

March 3, 2011 5:07 p.m.

Things are looking up.  Chips picked up his violin today for the first time after days of rest and practiced with his accompanist.  Twice - once at slow tempo, then full tempo.  He did great, and no pain at all!  We are very encouraged.  He'll still take it easy (I hope) for the next few days although he really wants to "pull out all the stops." I told him to wait 'til the competition.  Many of his friends were praying, so we are thankful for that.  His teacher is thankful, too, and we assured her it was because of the prayers! 

Thank you to those who left comments about this.  They are helpful and I will investigate your suggestions. 

Having experienced this, I don’t think teachers (at least ours) emphasize the physical aspect of string playing enough, or advise students on how to protect themselves and how to adopt safe “practice practices” to prevent injury.  I think I am going to get some material together and get with our teacher and help her to produce a handout for all her students.  She might not be confident about writing in English and need my help there.

Anyway, I’m doing the happy dance today.

March 1, 2011 6:06 p.m.

You’ve all heard of sports injuries, but music injuries?

Well, it happened like this.  Chips has been pretty excited about practicing two pieces on the violin for an upcoming competition, one in which he has an opportunity to win some nice green cash.  So, needless to say, as money motivates Chips dearly, he is very motivated to practice for this one.  So for about three days, he stepped up his level, length, and intensity of practice until he discovered on day four (last Thursday) that he had soreness in his left forearm during practice.

After hearing horror stories from our violin teacher about students having to quit violin after years of study, I told him to back off considerably, to play softly and conservatively, to practice only in 15 minute segments.  He did this on Friday, and had some discomfort (he describes it as mild – t0 moderate pain – not sharp, not burning, more like “squeezing”) during the second 15 minute segment.  Ditto on Saturday.  So I told him not to touch his violin until he went to his lesson on Monday afternoon.

We did this, yesterday, and when we reported the situation to Miss S, she seemed rather alarmed.  This did not make me feel better.  I knew Chips had been practicing like Superman the week before, and 20/20 hindsight wasn’t going to do us much good, I was afraid.  A bit later, Miss O arrived at Miss S’ house to practice with Chips (she is his accompanist for the March 6th competition) and she seemed alarmed, too, at first, but was more reassuring to us by telling us of similar situations she as been in (as a professional violinist) and how she has wrapped her neck and shoulder and used Icy-Hot, etc,. etc.  It was a bit disconcerting to see the expressions on both women’s faces as they discussed the matter between themselves in Russian, while I sat and scratched my head and was afraid to ask any more questions.

So we decided to give practice a try with Miss O at piano, and Chips played very conservatively, with no vibrato.  He played both pieces, and Miss S asked him if he felt pain.  He said “No, not really”.  She acted better after this.  So Miss O left and the lesson continued on a bit, with Chips working out various details that needed correcting – but softly and carefully.  Miss S sent us home with a bottle of Chinese Red Flower Oil.  Very sweet and caring of her, n’est-ce pas?  But when we got home, Chips’ admitted to me that the pain had returned by the end of the shorter than normal lesson, although it was slight.

We stopped by our pediatrician’s office on the way home and a nurse took a quick (free) look-see and decided that it is likely a muscle strain and not tendonitis.  Just advised us to rest it, and take ibuprofen round the clock for a few days.

So we are going to carefully resume practice on Thursday, for a couple of days, because the competition is Sunday afternoon.

We are also going to set new guidelines for Chips’ practice sessions from now on.  Shorter segments, rest periods, slower speeds, vary the music more, etc.  Not repetitive jam sessions of playing a piece over and over again at full performance tempo, the way Chips’ likes to do it.

If there is anybody out there with any experience with this sort of thing, please send me a comment.  It is hard to know how much healing time is needed.  This is on my mind a lot this week.  Thank you!

February 27, 2011 7:00 p.m.

This is the chair that I never have any time to sit and read in.

This is me sitting and reading in it on this beautiful, paradise-like Sabbath afternoon!

And it isn’t even Mother’s Day.  I am a blessed lady. (note: I am trying to stay ahead of Chips’ Calvert reading).

February 27, 2011 4:03 p.m.
We made our vacation plans for this year already.  We will travel in September, as is usual for us.  I found out about this huge campground on the beach at M*rtle Be*ch, So*th Carol*na.  It is called Oce*n Lak*s Family Campground and it looks to be fantastic.  It has more activities to do than any RV park we have ever visited, and we have been to many.  If you recall, we saw RV parks much of the way across America last September when we made our van camping trip to Mamm*th Cave, the Badl*nds, Mount Rushm*re, the Bl*ck Hills, Dev*ls Tower, the Be*rtooth Highway, Yell*wstone, the Grand Tet*ns, and Rocky Mo*ntain National Park. 

This year we are staying closer to home, only a day’s drive northeast of here.  This campground has all sorts of amenities and is still reasonable – camping fee for a paved site will be only $44 a night plus taxes, and we get access to everything they have.  What a deal!!  This is true Breezy Point style.



The campsite we reserved is in this photo.  Look between the pool and the ocean.  Count three sites “up” (toward the ocean) and three sites to the right and that will be where we will be living for a whole week in September.

Yippee!  We are excited.  Come September!

February 27, 2011 3:41 p.m.


On Friday, I did something very untypical for me.  A friend suggested going strawberry picking, and it was a kind of spur-of-the-moment thing.  Well, I am not that much of a spur-of-the-moment kind of person, so I was surprised at myself for jumping at the opportunity.

I replied to my friend, and then I went into the school room and announced to my children that a surprise awaited them at midday if they could complete the majority of their lessons by around 11:30.


I never witnessed such incredible work efficiency as I did that morning!  It was a true “LOL” kind of moment!  Sweet Girl completed all her work, and Chips got everything done except Geography and a bit of Reading.  Considering all he had done, that was good enough for me.


So after eating lunch, we piled into the car, and I drove to the strawberry farm without saying where we were going or who we would be meeting.  It was a sort of “mystery car ride”.  They were pretty excited when we pulled into the driveway of the strawberry farm, and especially so when they saw which friends were already there!


I am so glad my friend got me to drop lessons for a few hours.  It truly was a beautiful afternoon to go strawberry picking.  But unfortunately for me, I forgot to bring my camera there.


I hate when I do that!


But I do have photos of the evidence from later on that evening.  These strawberries are tasty beauties!!  Are they ever.

February 27, 2011 3:23 p.m.

Well the weather around here has grown rapidly warm, so much so that I can’t even imagine the chills that seemed to constantly be part of my life up until a week or so ago.  I feel like we have jumped from winter to late spring, all of a sudden. 

Sweet Girl received her first test set back from Calvert School.   It was her first taste of feedback from her new Calvert A.T.S. teacher for third grade.  It was interesting, for when she sent her first test in to Calvert, she was so excited to “meet” her new teacher.  I found this curious, to think that meeting the new teacher is still such a thrill even when it is through the mail, instead of in person.  I remember well the anticipation of discovering a new teacher when I was in public school .  Well, it turns out that her new Calvert 3rd grade teacher is a true veteran, having been an Advisory Teacher at Calvert for 32 years!  How amazing is that!?  I think what I was doing 32 years ago – let’s see, that was 1979, and I was in high school.  This teacher has served three thousand Calvert students through the years; isn’t that amazing?  I feel very fortunate that Sweet Girl has such a teacher, who has seen so many students’ work through the years and has such a good benchmark for evaluating Sweet Girl’s work.

So, her first set of tests was great.  Sweet Girl got a 1 (Calvert’s equivalent to an A) in Reading, Composition, Spelling, Math, Mythology, and Geography.  She got a 2 in Social Studies.  And she got an “incomplete” in Science.  Here is why that happened.  The first 10 questions on the science test had these directions: “write the letter of each word next to its meaning”.   Then there were several definitions given with blanks next to them, and another column with science terms such as “a. observe, b. conifer, c. inherited trait, d. metamorphosis” etc.  Well, Sweet Girl, instead of writing “d” when she meant metamorphosis, wrote “m” instead (for she was thinking of the first letter in the word rather than the letter besides the word).  This meant that all 10 questions were marked incorrectly.  So the teacher wrote “Retest Required” for science, and did not put a grade to it.  She wrote in her letter “I do not like to give a grade of four (4) on a first test, so I am giving you an incomplete…… send your retest with test 40”.
Anyway, I was thankful that this teacher’s extensive amount of experience gave her the wisdom to handle the situation this way, and it prevented Sweet Girl from experiencing the shock of seeing a 4 on the grade sheet.  It also gave me a chance to explain to Sweet Girl about the way letters appear besides answers  so that she doesn’t misinterpret this on a future test.  It is unclear to me whether her teacher realized how the mistake had been made.

Some homeschool mothers are pretty much against this kind of testing in their homeschools.  Whereas I can understand their point of view (I think) I am glad to have tests with our Calvert courses.  Yes, they can be long, and we do spread it out over several days (in Chips’ case) due to its length, but it does give our children an opportunity to get used to testing and make these kinds of mistakes now, when the stakes are low, before these unforeseeable types of errors are made when they are older and the stakes are high.

February 20, 2011 9:37 p.m.

If you buy a boy a package of freeze-dried Ramen noodle soup
When you get home from evening service,
pretty soon he’ll put it inside the microwave oven and press the button.
If he presses the button, he’ll go off to play and forget that he didn’t add water.
While you are sitting in the kitchen, you’ll begin to hear a hissing and crackling sound,
Whereupon you will open the door of the microwave --  just in time..
..To allow stiflingly rank smoke to fill the kitchen.
Entirely.
And when it fills the kitchen, pretty soon the smoke will fill the entire house,
And your family will run around opening windows and doors
And turning on exhaust fans.
After that, everybody will be driven outside, eyes watering and gasping for fresh air
to the breezeway to enjoy a leisurely Sunday evening supper, what’s left of it.
Even the dog will not want to be in the house.
And the rest of the evening you will want to spend outdoors;
The night, too. 
And your boy will end up practicing his violin for all the neighbors to hear
Outside underneath the stars, amidst a chorus of barking neighborly dogs,
And he will soon work up another appetite,
And after his practice is over, pretty soon,
He will request another Ramen soup.
                                                   -- Anonymous

February 20, 2011 3:59 p.m.


We are now in the throes of music competition season.  Yesterday we had one strings audition for both children, and they did just fine, having both secured the “Superior” ratings they needed to proceed to the state level.


Then yesterday evening, I was advised that we needed to quickly throw together an application for a concerto competition for Chips in late March.  As part of the competition, I had to write a short biography for Chips (in case he wins, for the state newsletter) and include a photo.  To get a feel for how to do this, I checked out prior newsletters to read what was written in the bio’s of other student winners of the recent past. 


At first, I found this task daunting and intimidating, and it brought to the surface all of the insecurities of a homeschool mom.  But now that it is finished, I feel pretty good about it.  What do you think?  Does this sound like a cool kid or not?


[Chips], age 11, has been a violin student of S______ G_____ for nearly five years. He first began to study violin at the age of 3. He has been homeschooled since preschool and is now doing sixth grade level work. [Chips] is no stranger to music competitions. In 2008 [Chips] was Elementary Solo winner for FMTA District __. In 2009 he took first place in O___ Music Club Elementary Solo Scholarship competition; In 2010 he was FFMC State Winner for Medium I Solo. In addition, [Chips] participated as violinist in an all boys’ piano trio with S____ Music Institute (M_____) that was FFMC State piano trio winner three years in a row (2008 – 2010).

When [Chips] was four, he and his family moved out to several acres in the country, where he and his sister developed a love of nature. He and his family have camped extensively throughout Florida, the Southeastern U.S., and Blue Ridge Parkway. His camping experiences culminated last autumn in a cross-country trip across America, touring 13 different states and 7 National Parks. [Chips] is also active in his church, participating in its choristers group. He enjoys relaxing by reading mystery novels, swimming, bicycling, playing piano, and repairing his friends’ digital watches.

February 14, 2011  9:00 a.m.

I want to share a short video of two hymns that Chips performed with a friend at our homeschool talent night the other day.  The beginning of the video was cut off, but his friend had been saying "I am going to perform with [Chips], my friend..." and then he introduces the hymn titles.  It was very sweet.  This boy is very gifted on the piano, and has had lessons for only two years.  He just won a piano competition, called [O-town's] Got Talent, in our nearby city.  We are proud of him, too, and we hope our sons will be friends for a long time.

February 13, 2011 11:33 a.m.

I’ve got the flu and the flu’s got me. 

February 10, 2011 4:32 p.m.
Alas, today is a sick day at our house.  No lessons, just library books, videos, and naps.  Both children have the flu and are spiking fevers.  When one is up, the other is down, and vice versa.  As of this writing, Sweet Girl has hit 104 and Chips is at around 100.  Then in a couple of hours, it could be the other way around.  I hate to see them this way; they are so infrequently sick like this.  And they are supposed to play violin for a talent show tomorrow night that they have been anticipating for a long time.  I do hope they recover quickly.

We spent the weekend traveling to “Pepsicola” to visit Self-Reliant Man’s parents.  They seemed to be doing as well as can be expected.  Without going into too much detail about them, his mother is in an assisted-living facility.  His father isn’t.  Anyway, here are some photos of the children with them this weekend.

February 2, 2011 11:01 p.m.

Perimenopause strikes again.  This time I have had a headache since Sunday morning.  Tension headache, floaty feeling.  Very annoying, and we are about to travel, too.  Please pray that it gets better quickly.  Last time I had this headache was about six months ago and it lasted for nine days.  This is only day five.

Other than that, things are great; Chips just completed his first test set in Calvert’s Sixth grade course, Sweet Girl’s first test set is on its way back to us in the mail, and I got a new dishwasher! 

Also, we are about to travel to visit the grandparents.

Just this darn tension headache, or else everything would be perfectamundo.  Like I always say, and I mean it moreso every time --  hormones, you can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em!

Maybe if I post pictures of the dishwasher going in I’ll feel better.

There.  Isn’t that pretty?  And Chips helped his dad install it.   Have a blessed weekend!

January 29, 2011 10:23 p.m.


Why the Universe is the Way it Is by Dr. Hugh Ross

It is not often that I write a book review.  Hey, these days, it is not often that I finish a book.  But after a year or two of sitting on my shelf, I decided to pick this book up and read it, and am I glad that I did. 

The author is an astronomer who early on in life came to faith in Jesus Christ after discovering that the Bible was unique among holy books in that it corroborated what he knew from science to be true about the earth and the universe, as far as its creation, structure, and origin.  Not only this, but the writers of scripture allude to details about the heavens and the earth that are scientifically accurate as we understand science today; however, as scripture was written thousands of years ago, and there is no way that the ancient writers could have known scientifically what we know today, it must be that they were truly inspired by God.  Now that may seem quite unbelievable, especially as many believe that there can be no true agreement between science and the scriptures.  The scriptures are about God, and science is, well, about science, and never the ‘twain shall meet.  So don’t even try.  But Dr. Ross tried some 25 years ago or more, and succeeded in identifying a model of creation science that is compatible with scripture, as well as with the mainstream understanding of physics, astronomy, astrophysics, geology, et al.  No bad science.  No bad theology.  After all, God reveals Himself in scripture AND in creation.  Shouldn’t a more complete understanding of both end up in agreement?

In this book, Ross sets out to set the latest scientific discoveries about the universe in the context of the Creator God’s goodness and love for the human race.  He gives the reader a glimpse into the exquisite fine-tuning that God has done in His created universe to provide for the existence of humanity,, and to allow for humanity to discover and learn much about the universe.  I once heard it said that we have no idea how much God has done for us, individually for our lives, and collectively for our communities.  That one day in heaven we shall finally come to know all the ways He has bent over backwards on our behalf to bless us and sanctify us.  We already know some of these things, how God made such a beautiful world, how He sent His Son to take on the sins of us all.  But there are so many things we are unaware of: things related to all that science has revealed about our created world, from sub-atomic particles through physical laws and up to the immensity of the universe.  Why is the universe so vast?  Why did he bother creating galaxies, stars, and planets that we will never even discover?  Why is the universe subject to decay? Why does the universe have the composition it does?  Why is it as old as it is?  Why is the earth and our solar system located in such a relatively dark corner of the universe?  Where does God reside relative to the universe?  Why is our planet located exactly where it is?  What do the scriptures indicate about the new creation to come and how does this relate to the present creation?  The writing style makes discussion of recent discoveries in astronomy to be very understandable to the non-scientific mind.  I appreciate this, because much of physics can be barely comprehensible to 99% of us.  The author helps us along by writing in terms that we all can understand.  Nevertheless, portions of this book do take some effort to digest.

The first half of the book is primarily scientific in scope, but the second half is more of a theological description.  What hints does the Bible give us about the future of the earth and the universe?  What do we know about the realm to come?  What will happen to the present four dimensions that we experience?  What limitations might we be freed from in the new creation?  Why isn’t our present universe more “perfect”?   How does the Bible explain the universe’s features?  All of these questions are tackled somewhere in this book, and in other, more detailed, books by this author.

I appreciated the discussion on making sense out of the evil in the world.  How can we explain the presence of evil in this universe?  What significance and meaning can it have for anybody, except in the context of the fact that we were created for another place, another realm, to come, that is above and beyond the created order that we observe and experience now?  In fact, it is only in this truth that any reasonable explanation can exist for the presence of evil. 

I truly have appreciated this book, as I do most of Dr. Ross’ books, because it gives me even more specific reasons to rejoice in the goodness of God toward us, to be amazed at His grace and condescension, and to be more aware of the incredibly huge investment that God has in humanity; or to put it in Ross’ words “How much the Creator has invested  and will continue to invest for humanity’s sake is astounding beyond all comprehension”.  This book reveals so many more reasons to give Him all our worship and adoration.  We truly have no clue about all that the Lord has done for us since before time began. 

Another thing that this book does is excite the imagination about the new creation.  If we all gave more thought to the wonders of eternity, we would walk so much more faithfully in this present life on earth.  Scripture has given us a little bit of information about what this eternal realm will be like for us, and Dr. Ross couches this description in scientific terms, explaining some of what may be different about the new creation, and how it will succeed and supersede the old (present) creation after it has passed away. 

I found this book to be a real faith-builder for me, peppered as it is with scripture references, for the author is a Christian theologian as well as a scientist.  I think it is an important book for Christian and skeptic alike.

January 22, 2011 10:57 p.m.

Dear friends, it is getting late and we need to get up for church early, but I wanted to take a moment to post these three video links from our recital yesterday.  It was two hours long!  Sweet Girl played after about a half hour, and Chips (and his duet partner) were the final acts of the evening. 

Then we all went out for milkshakes!  Yummmm....

Here they are..

Sweet Girl's two solos..

January 21, 2011 1:02 p.m.

That’s right.  Our annual pre-Federation recital is scheduled for this evening.  Sweet Girl will be performing two solo pieces, and Chips will be performing two solo pieces, as well as two duet pieces with another boy.  Should be a loooooonnnnngggg recital, but we are looking forward to it.  Maybe videos soon?